


With a Side of Stars

by kriswritesthings



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M, Mike’s parents are fighting, Will’s caring asl, man does his mind get off of it, they go to the lake in the middle of the night, to get mike’s mind off of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 22:17:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20104507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kriswritesthings/pseuds/kriswritesthings
Summary: Karen and Ted are having another fight, and Mike needs a break. He sneaks off to the Byers house, and Will knows that what Mike needs is a midnight trip to the lake. Confessions are made under the stars.





	With a Side of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> if you need more byler, i have 3 other fics on my account 
> 
> enjoy :)

It was the third fucking fight this week. Mike didn’t care who it was getting annoyed at one little thing and then blowing it all up out of proportion, he was pissed. 

No, Mike was pissed, but more prominently he was tired. 

It hit him his freshman year. There was always something off about his parents, but something about a particular set of annoyed glances his parents thought no one at the dinner table caught really engrained it into Mike’s head. His parents didn’t love each other. 

They probably hadn’t loved each other in a very long time. 

The thing was, in such a small town and with semi-respectable reputations, the Wheelers had to maintain their perfect family image. Two doting parents, an older daughter off succeeding in college, an intelligent son, and adorable imaginative younger daughter. 

Mike wondered when their breaking point would be. Tension had been building up over the years, but recently the boiling water was seeping over the edge of the pot. 

Whispered bickering slowly turned into shouting matches across the living room over the years, and Mike was left trying to comfort Holly through all of it. 

Mike wasn’t afraid of it as much as he’d assumed Holly would be. She didn’t understand why their parents weren’t hugging and kissing like she’d seen the parents do on TV, and Mike has yet to find an answer to give her. 

He should have seen it coming this night, but at 11:30 on a fucking Saturday night? Mike was planning on staying up to finish his homework so he’d have the next day to hang out with the party, but the yelling from downstairs was too distracting for him to even form a sentence in his head. 

Once he thought it might be over, there was another shout and his pencil jumped out of his hand. 

Mike couldn’t deal with it anymore, at least for that weekend. He was sick and tired of having to stay with Holly when she woke up to the loudness and then having to stay with her until she falls asleep again. He didn’t want to leave for college worried about Holly not having anyone in the house to look after her, all because his parents couldn’t damn reputation for one second and get divorced already. 

Mike threw his pencil down at his desk and abandoned his homework in favor of angrily pacing around his room for a couple of minutes. It blew off the initial steam, but he knew he had to get out for the night before he went insane. 

He crept outside of his room and checked to see if the hallway was all clear before silently shuffling to Holly’s room. The door was closed, but Mike opened it up 3 inches so he could peek his head in. 

Thank god for Holly being a heavy sleeper. She was sound asleep in her pink bed, nuzzled up in her covers without a care of whatever shouting match was taking place downstairs. 

Mike released his breathe only when he managed to make it back to his room without making a sound. He didn’t want to risk waking Holly up or alerting his parents of his presence, though he doubted they’d notice him even if he was streaking through the house with nothing but a bow in his hair. They were _ that _ wrapped up in arguing, trying to prove useless points for hours sometimes. 

Thankfully, spring was gradually transitioning into summer weather as the end of the school year neared. Mike figured he didn’t have to pack a jacket, but would he need anything else?

No, the best thing to bring for sneaking out was just himself, as he was still wearing the jeans and t-shirt he sported during the day. He wouldn’t need anything where he was going, after all. 

Will had always told Mike that he had a place in his home, even if it wasn’t in the form of a bedroom. There was always an empty seat at the dinner table where Jonathan used to sit in case Mike wanted to take refuge for the night at the Byers house and have dinner there, and Will always had a sleeping bag under his bed prepared just in case. 

It wasn’t the first time Mike snuck out of his house in the middle of the night to go to Will’s house. It was quite the contrary, but he’d lost count of how many times he tapped Will’s bedroom window in the middle of the night so they could have an impromptu sleepover after yelling matches became too much.

Mike almost expertly pulled himself out his window and made his way down the side of the house. He even left his bike, no matter the day, at the side of his house so he didn’t have to retrieve it from the shed like he used to. 

Even if it was dark, he had the route to Will’s house memorized. He couldn’t visualize it, but his muscles had memorized how much time it took until he had to turn left or right. He wondered if he’d ever be able to forget. 

Mike had become so distracted by how annoyed he was about his parents that he didn’t notice that he’d already arrived at the front Will’s house. 

Carefully, he hopped off his bike and walked it next to him while he crept over to where Will’s window was. He’d done it a million times, but his heart still hammered when he finally dropped his bike and reached his arm up to tap at the window. Mike didn’t know what he was really afraid of, but he was always worried that one day Will would tell him to go home and leave him alone. 

Two long taps, two short taps, long-short-long, and one final short one. It was their code, though simply it only wrote M-I-K-E in morse code. 

Sometimes Mike would have to do it twice if Will was taking a while to get up out of bed, but it was rare. Will turned into an extremely light sleeper after the events of their last middle school year, but so did everyone else. It was hard not to stay on your toes when anything can happen, after all. 

With no response, Mike went to tap on the glass again, but Will beat him to it and slid the window open. He stuck his head out and gazed down at Mike, who only stared up gratefully. 

“Hey,” Mike whispered, but Will never failed to take his breath away. His messy chestnut bedhead fell over his forehead and fluttered over his eyebrows when a breeze came through. Even though it was dark, Mike’s eyes had adjusted to it and he was able to catch the soft smile that grew onto Will’s face. 

“Another fight?” Will asked, so used to Mike’s visits that there wasn’t a need for a proper greeting. 

Mike nodded and Will waved him in, stepping away from the window so that Mike could use his bike as a step stool and pull himself through the frame. 

Having been used to it, Mike was able to get in smoothly and without any notice. He remembered the first time he tried, when it was during the day after he and Will talked about Mike’s home life. Will was the one who introduced the idea of Mike sneaking away and coming over, but they figured that he had to practice if he didn’t want to hurt himself or make noise sneaking in through the window. 

It ended in a booming tangle of limbs and a lot of bruises. Will had accidentally gotten in the way trying to help when Mike struggled to find a way to bring his entire body inside, and when Mike lost his balance and toppled over, they went tumbling down together. 

They only laughed at themselves and Mike tried again and again until he had it down. Mike recalled the memories fondly, remembering how sincere Will’s voice was when he insisted that he would be okay with Mike coming over no matter the hour. 

“How bad is it tonight?” Will’s voice snapped Mike out of his reminiscing. 

“Screaming, third time this week,” Mike sighed, walking over to where Will’s desk was as Will sat on his bed. The covers were bunched up at the bottom from where he shoved them down as soon as the tapping awoke him. 

Mike found the mini flashlight they used so they could see each other in the dark and shuffled over to the bed, turning it on so he could see Will. He was still wearing his pajamas, which consisted of one or Jonathan’s old t-shirts that was too big on him and (too short) gym shorts he didn’t wear out any more. Adorable, Mike thought. 

He sat next to Will and let the rest of his body fall onto the bed. He was exhausted from being kept up so often, but energy in the form of frustration was running through his veins. Seeing Will almost diminished the annoyance completely, but the energy only turned into adrenaline. Mike needed to get out and do something, anything, to get his mind off his parents. 

Will almost knew him too well. He couldn’t read minds, but Mike’s leg bounced violently off the side of the bed and his eyes wandered on Will’s ceiling. Anyone would pass it off for boredom, but Will knew Mike better than he knew himself. 

“You wanna get out of here and go somewhere?” 

Will already had an idea in mind of where to go. Mike pushed himself up onto his elbows and nodded. 

“Give me a second, I just got in here,” he said, and Will wondered how he didn’t notice how out of breath Mike was before. 

_____

<strike></strike>  


Even if Mike was a beanstalk at the impressive height of 6’3 and Will also had a decent stature at 5’10, they could both fit on one bike. 

Mike upgraded the bike he had in middle school when he started high school, taking his dad’s too large bike and barely reaching the pedals with his short legs at the time. 

His determination wasn’t for nought though, because sophomore year Mike shot up in height. Some called him a late bloomer, but his slowly curling hair became recognizable above everyone else’s in the hallways at school. Needless to say, the bike fit him just right soon enough. 

Will was the one riding the bike, strong legs pedaling away with Mike on the backseat he’d installed himself. Well, it was more of a makeshift mini cushion he attached behind the actual bike seat using a piece of wood and a lot of nails and duct tape. 

Regardless, it worked as a second seat. 

Will’s bike was tucked away in his shed, and taking it out would have caused too much noise (or so that’s what Will said, but if his bike was nowhere to be seen around the outside of the house). 

Mike had his hands resting on Will’s hips, ducking his head onto Will’s shoulder to gaze at the streets ahead of them. 

“Personal Space” was a concept the party knew nothing of, all of them being extremely comfortable with each other and touchy as well. Fighting interdimensional demons does that to a group of friends. 

They were used to it, but both Will and Mike grew red at the extra close contact. Mike hoped Will couldn’t feel the beating of his heart on his back. 

“Can you tell me where we’re going now?” Mike asked impatiently. Will only told him that he knew where they should go and forced Mike to turn around as he ruffled through some drawers and packed something into a string bag. 

Will shook his head teasingly, hoping Mike couldn’t see the smile forming on his face. 

The string bag was on Mike’s back as Will continued to peddle down the streets of Hawkins. No matter how much he racked his brain for where they could be going, Mike couldn’t figure it out. The bag wasn’t heavy and doesn't contain anything solid from what he could feel, so it wasn’t much of an indicator. 

A few minutes later, Will took a turn and Mike finally recognized the road they were heading down. 

“We’re going to the lake?” He asked excitedly. 

“I hoped you wouldn’t notice until we pulled up,” Will answered, sighing but secretly as excited as Mike was. 

“But I don’t have my swim trunks?” Mike said. He wouldn’t mind going in the lake with just his boxers, but they could have stopped by his house and he could have snuck inside to get them instead. 

“I packed an extra pair in the bag, dumbass,” Will said, always thinking ahead. “You don’t have to wear them if you don’t feel like changing, but they’re there.” 

Mike nodded and settled his chin onto the expanse of skin in between Will’s shoulder bone and the crook of his neck. It was surprisingly comfortable. 

Even though they were both tall, Mike figured Will’s bathing suit would be a little too small on him. He could wear his boxers, so he wasn’t worried about it, but he might have to use the bathing suit as makeshift underwear when he went home. 

They arrived at a clearing next to the lake after a few minutes. Mike marveled at how Will hadn’t looked like he had broken a sweat at all, but he credited it to Will getting on the track team their freshman year. It built up his endurance massively compared to middle school, but his calves? Killer. 

Will was the first one to start to pull of his clothes, t-shirt first before following with his shorts. Mike did the same, basking in the warm air that enveloped his torso and long legs. 

Will also pulled a small towel out of his bag, leaving it on the rocky clearing a little away from the edge of the water. Mike tried not to stare at Will’s lean figure and silky smooth looking skin. The moonlight was doing him many favors, and one of them was artfully contouring the cheekbones and jaw Will grew into. 

“Well, what are you waiting for, Wheeler?” Will asked, facing the water but head turned to gaze at Mike. 

Mike’s breath hitched in his throat, but he weakly nodded and walked to the edge of the water next to Will. 

“Shit, it’s cold,” he hissed when he tested out the temperature with his foot. It may have been warm in the air but the heat didn’t seem to affect the water at all. 

“We’ll get used to it when we’re fully in,” Will simply replied. He was always more carefree around Mike, less afraid to let his walls crumble in his comforting presence. 

Mike shrugged, but suddenly Will’s hand was on his wrist and it was pulling him towards the water. He tried to protest but the only thing that left his mouth was a high pitched squeak, freezing water quickly rising until it was pinching at his privates and Will was still pulling. 

Will didn’t look like he was cold at all. He was laughing at Mike’s broken attempts at yelling his name in between squeaking in surprise and slipping forward, but he didn’t try to pull away from Will’s embrace. 

The water was at their necks when Will finally stopped and let go of Mike’s wrist. Well, Will was treading water to keep it below his chin and Mike was able to stand comfortably. 

“H-holy shit-t.” Mike’s teeth violently chattered. “Why d-did you mak-ke do th-that?” 

Will could have laughed at Mike’s comical stuttering if he wasn’t slightly struggling to stay afloat. “I dunno, you needed a hand.” 

“Fuck off,” Mike was finally able to say without his voice cracking. “You look like you’re struggling there, Byers.” 

Will tried to ignore how his arms were growing a little more frantic to keep his head above the water. He could swim just fine, but his arms grew too tired way to easily for him to be afloat for long. 

“I don’t know what your talking about,” Will chose to respond instead. 

“Okay, shorty,” Mike laughed, choosing one of the many nicknames he had for Will that irked him the most. Regardless, he walked along the rocks at the bottom of the lake and let Will climb onto his back. His legs comfortably wrapped around Mike’s waist and his skinny arms loosely swung over his shoulders. 

They were used to it, Will using Mike’s back as a life raft whenever they visited the lake with the party. Mike was the tallest out of them all, and when everyone wanted to head into the deeper water to swim around, Will usually found his place on Mike’s back. 

Mike finally got semi-used to the water, but he questioned if the sudden heat of his body was due to how hard he knew he was probably blushing with Will so comfortable on his back.

Mike swam around the inky water, Will being light enough to not be much of a burden. The moon reflected off of the lake and so did the tall trees surrounding the perimeter. It was a pretty large lake considering Hawkins was pretty small, though there were no houses lining the edge like Will had sometimes seen in comics or magazines. 

He let his head rest on Mike’s shoulder, absentmindedly playing with his hair. His fingers wove through the locks that were slowly curling as more and more water went through them, but he accidentally tugged at one that was caught between his knuckles. 

Mike released what sounded like a choked, suppressed moan from the back of his throat. Will gasped. 

“Mike, I had no idea you were into hair pulling,” he teased, face heating up when his thoughts strayed from the initial realization to what it could mean for him. 

“Sh-shut up,” Mike weakly replies, sporting his own blush as well. Of course he’d realized it a while ago, but the excitement in Will’s voice made his heart pound. 

“This is a revolutionary discover of mine,” Will laughed. He shifted his entire body so that he was hanging off of Mike’s side instead, legs and arms still secure. Mike brought his arm to rest easily on Will’s waist, but his fingers prickled at the touch anyway. “Question is, what can I do with this information?” 

He attempted to interlace his fingers in Mike’s hair again, but Mike dodged his head away, knowing that Will was going to do again. Will pouted anyway. 

“What, you’re not into anything?” Mike defended himself. 

“It’s normal, Mike, of course I do. Yours is just easier to take advantage of.” Unashamed-and-Confident-Will was fully out and proud tonight. He didn’t have to worry about weird looks or judgemental comments when he was around Mike, which allowed him to truly unhinge. 

“You have to tell me now,” Mike chuckled, poking at Will’s side. Will flinched and tried to contain the giggle dancing around behind his lips but ultimately failed. He was quite ticklish, as it turned out. 

“No, it’s embarrassing to say out loud,” Will said, but he only received another poke and prod to his side. 

Soon, Mike was viciously tickling Will, knowing it was the only way to ever get an answer out of him. Will could have let go, but they were so far out into the lake that even Mike had to stand on the tips of his toes. 

Trying to get away as much as he could, Will unintentionally shifted so that he was wrapped around Mike directly in front of him, too distracted with howling with laughter and begging Mike to have mercy on him to notice. 

“I surrender, I surrender!” Will barely gasped in between laughing, and Mike finally ceased the tickling. 

“So you’ll tell me?” 

Will tiredly nodded but had to catch his breath. He finally noticed the position the two were now in, but hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a problem as he snaked his arms back around Mike’s neck again. Mike wouldn’t mind, right?

“It, uh,” Will began, not knowing how to word it correctly. There was no elegant way of saying it, really. 

Mike slowly nodded, which only made his face heat up more. 

“Riding. Yeah, that,” Will choked out, taken over by sudden embarrassment. He looked at anywhere but Mike, not wanting to see his reaction. 

“Interesting considering how we’re positioned right now,” Mike replied. So he noticed. 

It wasn’t terribly awkward, but Will didn’t know how to continue the conversation. 

“Pretty vanilla, though, don’t you think?” Mike piped up instead. 

Will shouldn’t have felt offended but a little part of him was. “_ Vanilla _? Not really.” 

“I mean, out of all the things..” Mike trailed off, but he had a cheeky grin on his face. 

“Doesn’t mean there aren’t more, Wheeler,” Will huffed. He wasn’t going to go into detail after all. 

Mike’s eyes widened, but he sighed in defeat when he realized that it was true for him as well. “Touché, Byers.” 

Will smiled satisfactorily and comfortably lay his head on Mike’s shoulder once more, except this time being that he could feel Mike’s heartbeat on his own chest. 

“It’s crazy that we’re gonna be seniors soon,” Will eventually sighed, and the conversation was underway once more. 

Junior year had just about taken their hearts out of their chests and stomped on whatever expectations they had for a fun school year, but it’s end was nearing and so was the beginning of the last summer they would probably all spend together. 

Neither of them wanted to talk about the ever looming fact that they would be separated when they went away for college, wherever they choose to go. Instead, they chattered on about their expectations for senior year, what their plans would be over the summer, and most excitedly about prom. 

Their futures after high school were a little blurry, but they would stick together until the very last day. 

Will didn’t know when he’d detached his face from Mike’s shoulder, but he knew it was sometime in the middle of their conversation. They were face to face talking, but the exchange died down and they were left to think on their own for a little. 

“We’ve been through so much, Will,” Mike absentmindedly mumbled, but it seemed like he didn’t mean to let it slip out of his mouth. 

“Yeah…” Will said, looking into Mike’s eyes. His gaze was returned. 

“I lost you twice before, and when we graduate, it’ll be like a third time,” Mike trailed off, looking away from Will so he wouldn’t catch the tears pooling in his eyes. 

How the atmosphere had shifted from energetic to depressing was beyond them.

“Don’t talk like that, Mike. You’re not losing me for a long time if I have any say in it,” Will tried to smile, but it was also a little watery. He embraced Mike (even if they were basically embracing the entire time they were in the water), pulling him close and tucking his chin over Mike’s shoulder. 

They stayed like that for a while until Will pulled away and wiped at the stray tears that had escaped Mike’s eyes. 

“We were laughing just a little bit ago, how do we do this?” Will chuckled. 

“Nostalgia does that,” Mike also gave a weak laugh, but it was enough for Will to be satisfied. 

Three and a half years had gone by since they all walked through the halls of high school as tiny, scared freshmen. Three and a half years of learning lessons, but Will’s biggest regret was not ever being able to gather up the courage to tell Mike how he felt. 

It was now or never, really. 

However, Mike beat him to it (as was with most things). 

“Is it bad that I want to kiss you right now?” 

The tension had been building up for quite a while, after all. Mike snaked his arms around Will’s waist and brought them closer. as if he knew what Will’s answer would be.

“God, not at all,” Will responded, the first one to dip his head down and meet Mike’s lips with his own. 

He’d imagined what it would be like before, kissing Mike, but Will never anticipated Mike’s lips to be softer than he could ever imagine. He _ definitely _didn’t anticipate the teasing teeth biting on his bottom lip either, or how Mike’s hands were settled at the back of his neck. 

They pulled away to breathe, short-winded giggles escaping their mouths despite themselves. 

“I should have done that a long time ago,” Mike was the first to speak, gazing at Will through his eyelashes. All the air Will had just regained was pulled out of his lungs again. 

“Yeah,” Will muttered, “Me too.” 

“Yeah, why _ haven’t _we, actually?” Mike thought out loud. It felt so right, like the was the perfect climax to their friendship and now, hopefully, more-than-friendship. 

“I could never figure out if you actually liked me or if we were just close,” Will admit, choosing to stare at the freckles on Mike’s face that he could only just barely see in the dark. 

“Friends don’t really sneak through each other’s windows twice a week though, do they?” Mike was right, but he hadn’t done anything to make a move on Will either. 

“All that matters is that we have all summer and senior year to date,” Will reasoned, thinking to bring up Mike’s little hypocrisy another time. 

They didn’t talk about what came after graduation. 

“Hell yeah we do,” Mike grinned widely, affectionately squeezing Will’s waist. 

No matter what awaited them, they basked in the presence of the present, which was in the middle of a secluded lake at god knows what hour. 

“I’m really good at taking your mind off things, huh?” Will proudly stated. Mike realized that he hadn’t thought about his parents since they arrived to the lake. 

Mike answered by capturing Will’s lips in another kiss, now having a new way to show his thanks. 

**Author's Note:**

> all my byler fics are flopping but its alright. please judos and comment if you enjoyed! check our the other fics for my sake (if you want)


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